It is often desirable to include a brand logo in a manufactured garment for purposes of brand identification and marketing. Brand logos and other indicia can be embroidered onto a finished garment. Embroidering has the disadvantage of adding an extra step in the manufacturing process, which increases the time required to produce each branded garment. The required additional time and materials increases the cost of production for such garments.
In knitted garments, brand logos can be placed in strategic locations for quick and easy observation by garment wearers and others. For example, in a sock, a brand can be knit into the toe and/or heel portions of the sock.
Toe and heel portions of a sock are often knit in a reciprocatory fashion. Three-dimensional “turned” heel and toe “pouches” are knit such that, in the case of double-cylinder knitting machines, the heel section needles are transferred down to knit from the bottom cylinder. A spring take-up holds the surplus yarn as the needles traverse towards the feed on the return oscillation, while a pouch tension equalizer ensures that the pouch fabric is held down on the stems of the knitting needles.
A “pouch” is defined as a portion of a hosiery foot knit with extra courses to accommodate a toe or heel. The pouch may be knit with a single feed while the other feeds are taken out of action. An additional splicing yarn may be inserted in the pouch for reinforcement. Reciprocation of the cylinder is produced by the knitting machine drive, and produces a forward and backward oscillation in the knitting quadrant. Because the changeover is mechanically complex, reciprocatory knitting takes place at approximately two-thirds of the speed of circular knitting. In socks with reciprocated heels and toes knit with a single feed, over a third of the courses will be knit in reciprocatory fashion, which may require over 60 percent of the machine's operating time. This additional knitting time makes pouches knit by reciprocation time-consuming and expensive. In the production of a standard “Y-design” heel pouch, the heel is knit by narrowing to less than all of the knitting needles, for example one-third of the needles remaining in action. As each needle is lifted out of action, the yarn is automatically wrapped over it in the form of a tuck stitch, which makes the heel join stronger. Then, extra yarn is knitted in the center of an inverted “Y” suture-line by widening for a predetermined number of courses, for example twelve courses. Narrowing then occurs again by knitting on less than all of the knitting needles (one third of the needles, for example), after which widening occurs, followed by circular knitting.
As a result of the inefficient process involved in reciprocatory knitting of a sock toe or heel pouch, knitting a logo in such a pouch only adds increased time and expense to production of these socks. In addition, knitting a logo in a sock pouch by reciprocatory knitting has the disadvantage of a limited selection available for adding colored yarns in the pouch.
To address the inefficiency and yarn selection limitations of knitting a pouch by reciprocation, sock pouches can be knitted in a non-reciprocatory fashion. Non-reciprocatory knitting of sock pouches is less time consuming and thus more cost-effective than reciprocatory knitting of pouches. However, single-feed, non-reciprocated pouches are disadvantageous for commercial production of socks because yarns in such pouches tend to be too bulky in the finished pouch and cut yarn ends tend to show in a manner displeasing to consumers.
Thus, there is a need to provide a garment, such as a sock, having a pouch knit in a non-reciprocatory manner that includes a design knit in manner acceptable to consumers. There is also a need for a sock having a pouch knit in a non-reciprocatory manner that includes a design knit with a single yarn feed and that is substantially flat and without loose yarn ends.